Wow. Has it really been 11 days since my last post? And 9 days before that one.

I know that 11 days isn’t really that long, in the grand scheme of things, but since I try to maintain at least a 2-post-per-week schedule, I thought I’d explain why there hasn’t been much activity here lately, and why there might not be much for a little while yet.

I’m taking this site in a slightly different direction, which will require a bit of rethinking. Read on for more details.

First of all, WebReports is almost finished. All of the cogs are turning, and all that I’m working on now is prettying up the exterior. That’s been taking up the majority of my “free time.”

I’ve still been spending the bulk of each day working for Data Strategies. My new position as Knowledge Manager has been extremely rewarding and challenging. I’ve been learning ASP and Visual Basic/VBScript, and helping to design and implement systems that are already having an effect on the overall quality of life of DSI employees and customers. I’m learning much more about the business of selling and supporting software than I ever could have in Technical Support. This job demands top performance from me on so many levels. In an average day, I might be writing a new tutorial to help clients do something tricky with our software, meeting with managers to discuss how we could streamline our operations, or redesigning screens to make them more user-friendly.

The time that I’ve spent playing around with PHP, XHTML, JavaScript, and CSS–not to mention usability and interface-design philosophy–have really paid off big time. Also, the time that I spent reading about psychology, philosophy of mind, and epistemology–which I always half-feared was a waste of time–has ironically paid of beautifully. Pumping out papers at the last minute in the honors college at SCSU prepared me for fast writing and editing. It’s as if someone found all my favorite hobbies and wrapped them into a single job. Specialists excel in many fields, but I’ve learned that, in technology, it’s the renaissance geeks who rise to the top.

You can think of a company as being sort of like a person. Each member of the company is like a cell or an organ in this person. Upper management is the brain, and the knowledge flow within the company is the nervous and circulatory system. In a software company, the program you create is the face you wear and the means of survival. In my new role as KM, I’m helping to make ours a smarter and faster company. By helping to make our software and documentation more user-centered, I’m also making us a friendlier and more helpful company. In 2005, I predict that Data Strategies will not just be a little unknown in San Diego - we’re going to be the top of the line in medical billing software. When/if we decide to refine and sell the tool that we use to get there, we may also make some serious revenue in the call-tracking and knowledge-delivery arenas.

This last month has really been great fun, and I keep thinking back to a few months ago, when I was making contingency plans and anticipating a sad departure in January 2005. I was determined not to be answering phones solving silly little complaints any later than December. Have to hand it to my bosses, they’re smart guys. (A choice between IsaacTheKM and IsaacTheFormerEmployee is no choice at all!) So much has changed since then. I’ve really never been happier with DSI than I am now. Working until 7 isn’t something I do because I want to impress my boss - many days it’s difficult to pull myself away from my computer.

The downside to all of this, if you can call it that, is that I don’t usually have much brain-energy left when I get home. So, my urge to write an essay or two every week is just not really there. Here’s what you can expect to see here, which I’ll try to keep up to date:

We’re starting a new D&D campaign. A few newcomers might get into it. Fried is DMing, and I’m playing an elf monk. I might write a post about that once in a while.

I often find myself solving web design problems at work, and will continue to blog the great resources that I find online. Schlueterica is my personal bookmarks file, so that’s not going away.

I’d love to vent my thoughts on the upcoming election, and all the malarky that gets thrown around, but I just don’t have time to keep up with it. I highly recommend Michelle Malkin, since she does a much better job of that than I ever could. (For those who don’t know: Voting for Bush.) I might find some time before Tuesday to comment on the numerous props that we have here in CA, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

I just recently got another request to write up my infanticide essay, part two of the abortion essay. This bit had gotten cut off for some reason, but now the sentence is complete.

I could have sworn I finished it, but I think the back button got me again.

Leave a Reply

Comments are moderated like crazy using a variety of plugins.
There is a very high likelihood that your comment won't show up right away, especially if you have
never commented here before, but it was not deleted.

Please be patient, and do not post your comment more than once. It will show up once it is approved.